Carton



Oct. 18, 1938. c. H. HOLMES ET AL 2,133,701

CARTON Filed D90. 19, 1934 INVENTORS CHARLES H.HOLME5 BY HENRY H, CHASE ATTORNEY Patented a. 18, 1938 PATENT OFFICE cnn'ron Charles H. Holmes, Lcs Angeles, .and Henry H.

, Chase, Glendale, Calif.

Application December 19, 1934, Serial No. 758,218

r 3 (Cl. 229-16) Our invention relates to cartons and similar forms of paper boxer, and it has particular reference to cartons designed to contain those food products such as ice cream, adapted to be packaged for storage or distribution to the consumer. which are introduced into the carton in a liquid or moist state; and then after closing and securing, to freeze the filled carton and its'contents into a solid block by subjecting it to the action of a refrigerating medium.

For the convenience of the consumer it is desirable that in opening a carton, the carton may beentirely stripped away from the solid frozen block which it contains, since it may, and usually 1. does, happen that the food product becomes frozen to the inner surface of the carton and is, therefore, very difllcult to separate from the carton. Particularly is this condition truein the packaging of frozen confections such as ice cream.

and particularly is it desirable that the ice cream be removed from the carton in block form in order to permit slicing thereof into individual portions forserving.

Accordingly, it is a purpose of our invention to provide a carton which is functionally and structurally characterized by having certain parts thereof separable one from the other by a mere tearing action to causeall parts to be stripped away from the frozen block which it contains.

whereby the block is readily freed from the inner surfaces of the carton to stand exposed and intact for slicing and serving.

It is also a purpose of our invention to provide a carton for food products in which the accomplishment of the stripping away of the parts of the carton from the block contained therein, is

attained by weakening portions of the paper stock of which the carton is formed and along lines which substantially parallel the grain of the a paper stock in order to confine tearing of the paper to such weakened portions and thus positively insuring separation ofthe carton parts only along the lines defined by the weakened portions.

5 A further purpose of our invention is the pro vision of a carton in which the characteristics above described are attained in a folded-blank carton of angular form, the construction of such carton blank and the manner of folding thereof so being conventional to permit production of the carton at no additional manufacturing cost beyond that of the conventional carton. In this Y specific embodiment of our invention; the conventional closure flaps of the carton are utilized I as hand grips to strip the sides of the cartonawayfrom the block therein, while the tapered form of the conventional carton is utilized to facilitate severance of the carton sides from each other.

i We will describe only one form of carton em- 5 bodying our invention, and will then point out the features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view showing one form of paper blank from which one form of carton embodyingour o invention is made. v

I Fig. 2 is a view showing in perspective the completed carton embodying our invention, with the sides thereof in the act of being stripped away from the solid block of food product within the '35 carton.

Fig. 3 is a view showing in perspective the carton of Fig. 2 completely stripped away from the block.

Fig. iis a fragmentary view showing the car- 20 ton in vertical section, and more particularly, the sealing flaps, the securing flaps being omitted for clearness.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1, showing the perforated scoring between the connected panels of the carton blank.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the .two same panels folded and illustrating the manner in which the perforated scoring is closed as a 30 result of such folding.

In carrying out our invention, the carton is constructed from any suitable sheet material such as any of the-well-known treated papers used for this purpose, and is formed and folded from. a flat blank. The carton blank may he died out at one operation, and is shaped and scored to define, as shown in Fig. 1, a bottom panel I 5 of rectangular outline, on the ends of which are a pair of tapered flaps IS. A pair of tapered side panels I! and i8 extend from the side edges of the bottom panel I5, while projecting from the side edges, respec- 'tively, of the side panels and it, are a pair of tapered side flaps l9 and 20. On the outer ends of the side panels l1 and I8 sealing closure flaps- 2i. and 22, respectively, are formed, while -on the outer ends of the side flaps 20, securing closure flaps 23 are provided.

The carton is given'shape by folding the blank along the several scored lines shown in Fig-1, and in such manner that the side panels ll and II are first brought to upstanding positions with the side flaps 20 folded inwardly at right-angles so that upon subsequent folding of the bottom.

naps It to upstanding positions, such sideflap'i will be disposed at the inner sides of the bottom fiaps. Gl'ueing of these side and bottom flaps to each other, is now eflected, followed by folding the side flaps l9 inwardly, and then glueing them to the outer sides of the bottom flaps I as well as the other side of the flaps 2|.

Thus the side. flaps l0 and 20 are secured to each other and to the bottom flaps, with the latter interposed between the two. In this manner, the blank is secured in a form to produce a carton having a hollow rectangular body B open at its top and adapted to be closed by the flaps 2|, 22, and 23. By reason of the tapered form of the side panels I! and I8 and the side flaps ll and 20, there is given to the rectangular body B a tapered contour to provide two confronting wide sides S, and two confronting narrow sides S The wide sides S carry the sealing flaps 2| and 22, respectively, while the narrow sides 8 carry the securing flaps 23.

With certain exceptions, our carton is of conventional construction so that it can be manufactured at no additional cost beyond that of the strictly conventional carton. One of the exceptions referred to is the scoring along lines 24 in Fig. 1, which define the side scams or corners ofthe carton body. The paper forming the carton blank instead of being scored in the usual manner to facilitate folding, is scored by perforating, and the character of the perforations is in the nature of slots rather than holes, as best shown in Fig. 5.

Such perforated scoring is for the purpose of so weakening the paper at the corner. or side seams of the carton body as to permit ready tearing thereof along such seams in order to separate all side panels from each other and thus allow the carton body to be easily stripped away from its contents. We do not wish to be restricted to this manner of weakening the corner seams as, obviously, other methods may be employed so long as when the side panels are folded, as best shown in Fig. 6, the slots or other openings are closed to seal the carton body against escape of its contents through the corner seams.

Where our carton is made from a blank of paper, cardboard or any sheet material in which the fibers thereof are arranged to produce a grain therein, it is essential to easy and definite tearing of the carton body sides from each other only along the lines defined by the perforated scoring, that the blank be so cut that the grain of the material extends substantially parallel to the perforated scoring. It has been found in practice that where the grain of the material extends at any considerable angle to the perforated scoring and especially at a right-angle, there arises the danger of the narrow sides of the carton tearing transversely and thus preventing complete stripping of the carton away from its solidified contents.

Another exception in the construction of our carton from the conventional one, is that the ing the sealing flaps against the adherence of one flap to the other by reason of the frozen contents entering between the two flaps. Also, it insures the automatic stripping away from the solid block within the carton, of the wide cartonsides 8 simultaneously with, and as result of stripping away of the narrow sides S In practice, the carton, when set up as shown in Fig. 2, is adapted to be filled with whatever a food product desired, and with closing of the closure flaps it is subjected to a refrigerating medium for solidifying the product to form a block. Now, to expose the solid block thus formed, the two securing flaps 23 are first disengaged one from the other, and then by gripping them in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2, they can be simultaneously pulled outwardly and downwardly. Such manipulation of the securing flaps causes the narrow sides of the carton body to be torn from the wide sides, but only along the lines defined by the weakened corner seams. As a result, the narrow sides are stripped away from the block, and likewise the wide sides, because in pulling the narrow sides, sufiicient force is transmitted to the wide sides through the weakened side seams and concurrently with tearing of such seams, to pull the wide sides outwardly and downwardly away fromthe block. Thus, the block is left completely intact and fully exposed, as illustrated in Fig. 3, to permit bodily removal thereof, or the slicing thereof for serving 'while reposing on the bottom of the carton.

Because of the double-ply material used in constructing the narrow sides S of our carton, such sides .are made relatively stiff. This stiffening lessens the possibility of these sides tearing transversely, and greatly aids in tearing them evenly from the wide sides of the carton to insure complete stripping of the carton from its contents.

Although we have herein shown and described our carton as being particularly adapted for the packaging of a substance which is fluid at normal temperatures and solidified by freezing after introduction into the carton, it is to be understood that we do not wish to be restricted or limited to such adaptation, as any substance, food or otherwise, in solid or semi-solid state, can be packaged by the carton and the carton subsequently stripped away therefrom to leave it completely exposed and intact.

We claim:

1. A carton comprising; a rectangular body of sheet material decreasing in width from top. to bottom to provide a pair of wide sides and a pair of narrow sides, and having an open top, the side edges of the sides of said body being weakened longitudinally to permit tearing thereof at the corners of the body; a pair of sealing flaps connected to the upper ends of the wide sides of said body; and a pair'of securing flaps connected to the upper ends of the narrow sides of said body.

2. A carton comprising; a body of sheet material having a bottom panel; a pair of end flaps extending upwardly from the ends of said panel, a pair of side panels extending upwardly from the side edges of the bottom panel, a pair of side flaps extending inwardly from the opposite side edges of said side panels so that the flaps at the same edges of the side panels are disposed at opposite sides of the respective end flap to coact in forming other side panels, a pair of sealing flaps on the upper edges of the firstmentioned side panels, and a pair of securing flaps on the upper edges of the inner side flaps, those edges of the side flaps connected to the side panels being weakened longitudinally so that 1 tangular form to provide a pair of wide sides and a pair of narrow sides, the grain of said sheet material extending upwardly or the sides of said body, and the sheet material forming the narrow sides of said body being of greater thickness than thesheet material forming the wide sides thereoi: sealing flaps on the u'pperends oi the wide sides of said body; and securing flaps on the. upper ends of the narrow sides of said a body.

HENRY H. CHASE. CHARLES Hr HOLMES. 

